Tidal Factors – A group exhibition by the Várfok Gallery in the Danube Museum

Exhibition Opening

Saturday, 25th. June, 2022, 16.00

Location: Danube Museum
2500 Esztergom, Kölcsey u. 2.

The Várfok Gallery’s exhibition ‘Tidal Factors’ at the Danube Museum is a rich selection of artworks exploring the theme of water in a variety of ways. The exhibition aims to show the significant role played by water in contemporary art and how the use of water as a material is fundamental to certain artists and their painting techniques.

Heading the exhibition are two unique compositions from László Mulasics’ series entitled ‘Tidal Factor’, which unite the themes encompassed within the exhibited works. Mulasics used the ancient encaustic technique of painting with wax at the highest level and left behind an unparalleled oeuvre. In the ‘Tidal Factor’ series, he created pictures of a man standing on the pier of Hangzhou Bay which embody both figurative and abstract elements. The relationship between Man and Nature is explored within the all-encompassing dynamism of water and the power of water to influence our emotions.  The recurring motif of the ripple, with its planar and spatial, symmetrical and asymmetrical, geometric and organic patterns, expresses the conceptual framework of the exhibition.

The exhibition includes contemporary works by leading artists as well as works of art with significant historical importance, such as Françoise Gilot’s  airy, floating canvas from the 1980s and ’Girl with a Fan’ by Marie Laurencin. The 100 year old Gilot, former Muse of Picasso, and Laurencin, Muse of Apollinaire and portrayed by  Rousseau in his work ‘The Muse Inspires the Poet’, are highly influential female artists of contemporary art history as well as the French avant-garde.

Also on show will be a vibrant 1935 painting by József Egry of Lake Balaton, drenched in humid light, a lonely siren representing unattainable Beauty by the inevitable El Kazovskij and  an expressive composition by János Szirtes. Szirtes is one of the most versatile talents of the Hungarian contemporary art scene, a painter and performer who evokes archaic cultures and different qualities of art history within his  works. László Szotyory, known for his sensual artworks, will exhibit a ‘burning palette’ landscape, Levente Herman’s painting conveys a vision of the sacral quality of water, franyo’s aatoth’s  jungle painting shows a gently undulating landscape of a lake merging with lush vegetation and the work of virtuoso painter Máté Orr shows an intriguing composition moving the viewer into the world of fantasy.

The exhibition will include a special room for works where water is not present as a concrete representation, but, rather, as a vital factor hidden in the technique. The colourful ‘Rural Sky’ by the free spirit of Hungarian contemporary art, Peter Ujházi, the ethereal ‘Origin’ by Endre Rozsda, who once worked in the circle of André Breton and the Parisian surrealists, and the tightly synchronised swimmers of Sándor Rácmolnár, who combines symbols from different cultures in an ironic and decorative way, are all presented alongside the young talent, Anna Nemes’ monumental portrait of a woman, constructed from colourful abstract patches, as testament to the creative role of water in art.

The Várfok Gallery’s exhibition is a flood of colours and shapes that proclaims the elemental qualities of water, simultaneously creative, destructive, sacred, emotional, soothing, ethereal, earthly, momentary and yet permanent.

‘Tidal Factors’,  water all-pervading and eternal.

Exhibiting artists:

franyo AATOTH, József EGRY, Françoise GILOT, Levente HERMAN, El KAZOVSZKIJ, Marie LAURENCIN, László MULASICS, Anna NEMES, Máté ORR, Sándor RÁCMOLNÁR, Endre ROZSDA, János SZIRTES, László SZOTYORY, Péter UJHÁZI